Wine tasting in the Okanagon ...

View from Arrowleaf winery

During the week before I went back to work, C and I took a week-long holiday to Osoyoos, where Mum and I spent several lovely days in July.  Osoyoos offers the perfect balance of rest and activity ... sleeping in, wine tasting, walking along the lake, swimming in the lake and hotel pool (complete with waterslide ... ridiculous amounts of fun!)  It was the perfect break before entering the rat race again.  We spent a lot of time visiting wineries (I lost track of how many we actually visited) and tasted some delicious new wines as well as enjoying several long, lazy lunches at several of them.  I loved learning about the interesting stories behind their names - Hidden Chapel where the previous owner was a devout Catholic and had her own private chapel built on the property; Blasted Church, which is on the site where an old wooden church was blasted with dynamite and moved the the local village; See Ya Later Ranch, where the original owner's wife left him, leaving him a note signed 'See ya later' (he continued to sign everything with this for years apparently); and the difficult-to-pronounce Nk'Mip winery which is located on native land ... it's pronounced Inkameep.  We found some new favourite wines and bought way too much home with us (50 bottles in total) ... C and I definitely won't be needing to buy any wine for the rest of the year, that's for sure!

Lunch at Nk'Mip winery

The hidden chapel at Hidden Chapel winery

The patio at Lakebreeze winery

Taking a run in the vineyards at Lakebreeze

Learning about different grape varieties at Tinhorn Creek winery

Lunch at See Ya Later ranch

The original (and very beautiful) ranch home at See Ya Later ranch

Barn on the hill at See Ya Later ranch

Blue sky and blue swimming pool at Burrowing Owl winery